UK universities are becoming confident in delivering degrees by distance learning thanks to lessons learned from the collapsed UkeU, the ill-fated government-sponsored project conceived at the height of the dotcom boom to exploit an expanding overseas market for e-learning.
Online delivery and distance learning were touted as the means of widening participation in higher education for employed adults, part-timers, people with special needs, and armies of students in emerging economies such as Russia, south-east Asia and China.
But virtual learning environments (VLEs) failed to deliver as cutting edge technology outstripped pedagogy and the essential human dimension. Quality suffered and a catastrophically high rate of students dropped out of online degrees. The high costs of developing online course content and delivery platforms deterred many universities from entering the fray - the main reason UkeU was formed in the first place.
But in its dying days in 2003, UkeU was joined by a research body, the E-learning Research Centre, which is based at both Manchester and Southampton universities. It was an attempt by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) to rein in UkeU's ambitions and keep it in line with market demand. The E-learning Research Centre now forms a powerful alliance with UkeU's de facto replacement, the HE Academy. Grainne Conole, professor of educational innovation at Southampton University and co-director of the centre, says: "Rather than throw the baby away with the bath water, Hefce has taken up the challenge and said 'Oh well, what can we learn from this?'"
Liz Beaty, Hefce's director of learning and teaching, is committed to supporting research in e-learning. Although there is no exclusive funding of e-learning in the wake of the experience with UkeU, Hefce believes e-learning needs to be embedded across all subject disciplines. Hefce funds e-learning related work to the tune of around £40m - including the e-China project, a consortium of leading UK and Chinese universities working on a common platform for online distance learning. Beaty says: "We and the research councils are looking to fund a multi-disciplinary approach to e-learning because this is where the gaps in our knowledge lie and this is what the universities are finding the most helpful.
"The way the technology has developed cuts across subject boundaries such as education and social sciences, computing and electronics. Many universities and colleges we work with have highlighted the need to understand more about effective ways of using technology to enhance the student learning experience." Southampton's research centre is focusing on the "softer aspects of e-learning", in particular pedagogy and organisational issues, while Manchester is looking at design and delivery. Conole reckons research is starting to inform the design, delivery and content of e-learning. It is now easier for universities to offer new distance-learning degrees, and to introduce blended learning - a combination of e-learning and traditional face-to-face delivery.
Conole believes anyone looking for radical change will be disappointed. Methodology around e-learning is more about tweaking the delivery mechanism and keeping a focus on students rather than on killer applications. Conole cites Gilly Salmon's work at Leicester University on developing protocols for online discussion.
Research work is succeeding in integrating e-learning within conventional degrees. Southampton now delivers postgraduate geography degrees with Leeds University and Penn State University in the US.
"New forms of online learning and partnering are shrinking distances between universities around the world," Conole says. "And it is not just the students taking part in distance learning. It is about academics sharing resources and best practice. I spent yesterday evening in an online audio conference with academics in Leeds, Penn State and Santa Barbara. We could have group conversation along with one-to-one chat, and were able to share and annotate documents in real time."
In Southampton, the nursing degree makes use of a teaching technique called virtual interactive practice (VIP) where students are confronted by dummies programmed to exhibit a range of symptoms and respond to online diagnosis, a form of self-teaching that mimics the experience of working in a real hospital ward.
The Open University remains the leader, both in distance learning, and in delivering online and blended learning to an overseas market. Involved with UkeU on a pilot module for UkeU's own platform, Learning and the Connected Economy, the OU took the module back in-house and has launched three online distance-learning postgraduate Master's degrees for a global market, using its own platform. Paul Clark, pro vice-chancellor, comments: "We've carried out market research and have very high satisfaction ratings."
Following on from UkeU, the OU has developed its own models of distance learning - various forms of partnership with universities or institutions overseas. In Singapore, the OU accredits a degree and provides an e-learning platform and associated software.
Clark believes e-learning is breaking down the barriers between conventional and distance-learning students. He says: "E-learning is not a single-headed beast. As a distance-learning provider, the OU has a completely different set of issues from a conventional university. As students develop intellectually, online delivery is the only way of challenging them and developing self-reliance."